Comparing prices across every provider we track...
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Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) · $73/mo
Google Cloud's $73/mo GKE cluster management fee is price-competitive with Azure AKS Standard ($73/mo) and Oracle OKE Enhanced ($74.40/mo), all offering similar control-plane SLAs and production-grade features. Cheaper entry points exist (IONOS, DigitalOcean, Kamatera) but come with narrower specs, promotional pricing traps, or hidden per-vCPU/bandwidth overages that can quickly erase savings at scale.
Linode's base LKE has no separate cluster management fee if you skip the $60/mo HA add-on, making it free at entry; worker nodes billed separately at transparent hourly rates with a 99.99% SLA.
Caveat: Standard (non-HA) control plane lacks multi-master redundancy; HA add-on ($60/mo) brings you to parity with GKE; bandwidth overages at $0.005-0.015/GB can accumulate quickly on egress-heavy workloads.
| Provider | Plan | Price | Specs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IONOS | Managed Kubernetes · K8s RAM - per GB | $1.94/mo | Worker node RAM, control plane free | Visit |
| DigitalOcean | Kubernetes · NVIDIA H100 GPU node | $3.39/mo | 80 GB GPU RAM, 240 GiB Droplet RAM, 20 vCPUs (billed hourly, shown as monthly-equivalent placeholder) | Visit |
| Kamatera | Managed Kubernetes · Worker node = Type A Cloud VM (min) | $4/mo |
Exact price parity with GKE at $73/mo; supports up to 5,000 nodes per cluster, API server autoscaling, and 99.95% SLA with availability zones.
Caveat: Windows Server VMs carry license surcharges; Premium SSD/Ultra Disk IOPS billed separately; Cool/Cold/Archive storage tiers impose 90-180 day minimums and early-deletion penalties.
Only $1.40/mo more than GKE; includes financially-backed uptime SLA, virtual nodes, and workload identity; $0.10/hour capped at $74.40/month.
Caveat: Block Volume performance (VPU) billed separately from capacity; Archive Storage restores take hours and carry 90-day minimum retention; Object Storage Infrequent Access has per-GB retrieval fees.
Only $2/mo more; per-cluster control plane with node/volume costs billed separately; strong for multi-region deployments.
Caveat: No published platform SLA (Enterprise support required for custom SLAs); machine prices vary by region; cross-region private networking traffic billed per GB up to $0.12/GB; stopped machines still incur rootfs storage charges.
Dedicated 4GB control plane for $80/mo; 99.9-99.99% SLA depending on tier; transparent per-GB pricing for add-ons.
Caveat: Windows Server licensing roughly 2.5x Linux equivalent; Object Storage egress 75 GB free then EUR 0.01/GB; Glacier restoration fee EUR 0.009/GB; free mutualized control plane available at lower SLA if cost is primary concern.
Before you switch
| No separate K8s pricing published. Worker nodes are billed at standard Cloud VM rates by CPU type; this row mirrors the Type A minimum (1 vCPU/1GB) as the cheapest possible worker node. No control-plane fee found -- likely bundled or unspecified. |
| Visit |
| OVHcloud | Managed Rancher Service · OVHcloud Edition | $5.55/mo | Per vCPU/hour across all schedulable worker node vCPUs in downstream clusters. 20 vCPU minimum billed. | Visit |
| Linode (Akamai) | Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE) · HA Control Plane | $60/mo | Flat $60/mo add-on for a highly-available, multi-master control plane; worker nodes billed separately | Visit |
| Microsoft Azure | Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) · Standard tier | $73/mo | SLA-backed control plane: 99.95% with availability zones, 99.9% without. Up to 5,000 nodes/cluster, API server autoscaling. Recommended for all production workloads. | Visit |
| Oracle Cloud Infrastructure | Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE) · Enhanced Cluster | $74.4/mo | $0.10/hour per cluster, capped at $74.40/month; financially-backed uptime SLA; advanced features (virtual nodes, workload identity). Worker nodes billed separately. | Visit |
| Fly.io | Fly Kubernetes (FKS) · FKS control plane | $75/mo | Per-cluster control plane fee. Node Machines and attached Volumes billed separately at standard Machines/Volumes rates. Single-source figure, not independently re-verified. | Visit |
| Scaleway | Kubernetes Kapsule · Dedicated Control Plane 4GB | $80/mo | Dedicated control plane, 4 GB RAM | Visit |
Linode (Akamai)
Microsoft Azure
View Google Cloud's plan
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
Fly.io
Scaleway